Exercises and simulations are extremely useful for training individuals in the use of firearms, including for example military personnel, law enforcement officers, and firearm permit owners who may seldom have an opportunity to use their weapons. One particularly useful type of training exercise or simulation involves confronting an individual having a firearm with a series of targets and threats. In such a simulation, the object is for the trainee to aim and fire the weapon at the targets or threats as quickly and accurately as possible while maneuvering in the natural and realistic environment of the operative or sporting encounter, and also without firing at possibly friendly targets.
The ability to record and review the motion, assault and aiming actions of the trainee in a simulated firing training while using the actual weapon reduces the expense and improves safety compared to live ammunition training. This is true for dry training, where no actual firing takes place, as well as in blank firing.
Another use of the invention is in gaming using toy guns and air guns.
A variation on this training exercise is to have multiple participants involved in the training and simulation exercise. In such case, all the participants' video recording devices are synchronized in time so as to enable post-exercise display and scoring of the exercise. For example, the multiple recordings may accurately depict which participant successfully fired and hit the another.
Previous art teaches various ways of mounting video cameras and recording means on guns for training and operational purposes. A number of such prior art documents are now briefly reviewed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,261, to Ganteaume, teaches an apparatus adapted to make an immediate photographic record of a theoretical hit such as in hunting wild game. There is disclosed both a mechanical and an electrically actuated means for causing this theoretical hit to be exposed on the film of a camera which is carried by and actuated with the pulling of the trigger of the gun. The distance, trajectory and wind factors are reflected in this photographic record. The hunter using the gun fires a blank cartridge rather than a real cartridge so that this photographic record indicates what results this hunter would have achieved had a real bullet been fired.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,451, to Vockenhuber, relates to a telescopic gun sight with a mount for a removable camera to enable an object to be photographed through the telescope. The light path from the telescope to the camera is provided by a beam splitter which separates some of the light traveling along the optical axis of the telescope and diverts it towards a collimator and a window in the wall of the telescope. The collimator provides parallel rays from this diverted light so that the camera attached to the mount can be a fixed focal-length camera. An arrangement is provided for blanking off the window when the camera is not fitted to the telescope.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,219, to Boller, et al., disclosed a rifle having a telescopic sight for recording the target as seen through the telescopic sight at the instant the trigger is pulled. The apparatus includes a beam splitter for directing to a camera some of the light passing through the telescopic sight. The shutter mechanism of the camera is coupled to the rifle trigger so that the camera will “shoot” the picture of the target when the trigger is pulled. The camera is of the instant-copy type so that pictures of the target can be viewed shortly after “shooting”. The apparatus thus enables the ability of a rifleman to be tested without the need for firing live ammunition.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,309,095, to Buckley, teaches a camera mounting device for mounting a camera to a hunting rifle. The device comprising a first mounting bracket adapted to support a camera, a threaded fastener to detachably secure a camera to the first bracket, a variable diameter clamp to clamp the first mounting bracket to the barrel of the telescope sight of a rifle, a cable release for remote actuation of the camera, a second mounting bracket connected to the cable release, and threaded fasteners for detachably securing the second mounting bracket to the trigger guard of a rifle so that actuation of the cable release is coordinated to actuation of the rifle trigger.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,621, to Black, relates to a video camera recording device having a gunstock and a support structure which includes a mounting platform adapted to receive thereon a hand held video camera recorder having a lens structure defining a line of sight, a recording medium for recording video information, and a viewfinder and mounting structure for mounting the viewfinder onto the gunstock. Structure is provided for effecting a sequential activating and deactivating of the video camera recording device for the purpose of starting a recording of video information onto the recording medium and stopping the recording, respectively. A gun sight is located in the line of sight so as to be visible through the viewfinder when the video camera recorder is recording video information on the recording medium. A trigger is provided on the gunstock and is adapted to be manually activated by a finger of a user's hand. A signal generator is provided which generates a signal visible through the viewfinder in response to the user activating the trigger. The signal is also simultaneously recorded on the recording medium.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,262, to Pena, discloses a camera mount for use on a telescope in combination with a rifle. The mount is clamped onto the telescope, and has a camera attached to the top of the mount. A cable mechanism is attached at one end to the shutter release of the camera and at the other end to the trigger of the rifle. The camera is arranged to photograph the image received through the telescope and reflected through the mount. The cable mechanism provides means for controlling the operation of the camera. A housing is clamped onto the telescope and has an eyepiece which fits onto the eyepiece of the telescope and contains a split prism which is positioned in the eyepiece at an angle such that it can be seen through for viewing the image of the target received through the telescope. The split prism has a reflective surface on one side which reflects the image of the target upwardly to a first surface mirror positioned in the housing above the split prism at an angle such that it receives the image reflected from the split prism, and then reflects the image forwardly to a second surface mirror. A second surface mirror is positioned at the forward end of the housing and at an angle that it receives the image reflected from the first surface mirror, and then reflects the image upwardly to the camera lens. The image of the target is photographed when the trigger of the rifle is pulled.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,375, to Watson, teaches a camera mount for firearms. The mount comprises a base plate; an intermediate plate operatively attached to the base plate; a dampening material, operatively attached between the base plate and the intermediate plate, for dampening recoil forces transmitted to the intermediate plate; and a mounting plate removably attached to the intermediate plate. The mounting plate includes a camera attachment device for allowing attachment of a camera to the mounting plate; and an adjustment mechanism, operatively connected between the intermediate plate and the mounting plate, for allowing the camera to be aligned with respect to the firearm. The camera mount further includes a firearm mounting device, operatively attached to the base plate, for mounting the camera mount to the firearm.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,665, to Kimble, teaches a weapon training simulation system comprising a firearm with a variable data transmission system mounted therein. The system includes at least one sensor to detect detonation of a blank round in the firearm, a variable data transmitter enabled by said sensor to transmit a signal comprising a weapon identification and, optionally, a direct hit/near miss selection, a power amplifier to amplify said signal, and a laser to project said amplified signal along the boresight of said firearm. The laser is mounted in the barrel of the firearm, and the other electronic components may be advantageously mounted in the handgrip or stock thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,617, to Hancox, teaches an apparatus for the simulated shooting of small arms comprises a miniaturized electrical energy source for a radiation emitter which is capable of being accommodated within a dummy cartridge or within the gun barrel. The source can be a capacitor slidably located within the dummy cartridge and which co-operates with a barrel unit housing a switch section, an electronics section, and a pulsed infra-red emitter. On firing the gun the capacitor is propelled forwards by the firing pin of the gun until a probe-like switch portion on the capacitor contacts a corresponding switch portion on the barrel unit so actuating the emitter to give a series of timed pulses which pass through a lens system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,621, to Black, teaches A video camera recording device having a gunstock and a support structure for which includes a mounting platform adapted to receive thereon a hand held video camera recorder having a lens structure defining a line of sight, a recording medium for recording video information, and a viewfinder and mounting structure for mounting the viewfinder onto the gunstock. Structure is provided for effecting a sequential activating and deactivating of the video camera recording device for the purpose of starting a recording of video information onto the recording medium and stopping the recording, respectively. A gun sight is located in the line of sight so as to be visible through the viewfinder when the video camera recorder is recording video information on the recording medium. A trigger is provided on the gunstock and is adapted to be manually activated by a finger of a user's hand. A signal generator is provided which generates a signal visible through the viewfinder in response to the user activating the trigger. The signal is also simultaneously recorded on the recording medium.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,300, to Cheshelski, teaches a retrofittable laser system utilizing miniaturized components which are insertable into a pistol barrel which emits a laser module light pulse when a pistol firing trigger activates a pistol firing pin. The pistol further comprises a pistol housing and a pistol ammunition chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,192,614, to Cliburn, teaches a video camera mounting system for a firearm, such as a rifle or a shotgun, to simultaneously video a target at the time of the “kill”. The system includes a video mounting assembly that incorporates a shock absorbing mechanism to protect the video camera against the recoil of the firearm, and a pivotally mounted platform to finely adjust the video camera toward the target.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,941, to Kotsiopoulos, teaches a training weapon for use in firearm training simulations involving multiple participants each of whom is armed with a training weapon. The training weapon includes a trigger which is coupled with a switch that is part of an electrical circuit including a power supply and an indicator light. The trigger and switch being arranged such that when the trigger is depressed the switch closes the circuit thereby turning on the indicator light.
Much of the above mentioned prior art describes applications in which external additions are attached to the weapon, thereby changing the characteristics of the use of the weapon. In true combat simulation and training, it may be important to maintain the exact external form of the weapon on which the training is performed. Furthermore, the addition of external accessories may mandate adaptations to the structure of the weapon itself, which may not be simple or advisable.
The disclosures of each of the publications mentioned in this section and in other sections of the specification, are hereby incorporated by reference, each in its entirety.